The borough will spend about $47,000 over the next two years to prepare the police department for accreditation from the Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission. About 136 out of 1,100 departments have received such an award.
"This has credibility. It says we've been evaluated by a third party," Borough Manager Mark Stivers said after the meeting.
The borough will hire The Rodgers Group, based in New Jersey. That company already works with police departments in East and West Hempfield. The company will ensure that Columbia's police department policies and practices meet agency requirements and will recommend best practices, such as becoming more transparent or storing weapons in the safest way possible. The process should take between 12-18 months and would help ward off legal challenges, Stivers said.
When: Columbia Borough school board reorganization meeting, Dec. 2.
What happened: Three of the five candidates who were elected in November were sworn in as board members.
New members: Ryan Sexton, who was elected to a four-year term, was sworn in and seated on the board. Jason Price, who was also elected to a four-year term, was unable to attend the meeting due to a military commitment. He will be sworn in before the board’s next meeting Dec. 9.
Returning members: Matthew Wardecker, who was appointed to a vacant seat on the board in June 2021, was sworn in for a two-year term. Devon Fisher, who was appointed to a vacant seat in March 2020, was sworn in for a four-year term.
Vacancy: The board announced that Katherine Miller, who won election to the board in November, is not eligible for the seat she won because she is no longer a district resident. In accordance with state law, her seat was declared vacant. Any eligible community members interested in being appointed to the vacant seat have until Dec. 7 to submit letters of interest to the district.
Board leadership and committees: The board reelected Charles Leader as board president and Lauren VonStetten as board vice president. The chairs and membership of the board’s extra-curricular, personnel, curriculum and instruction, finance, property, and policy committees will be announced at the next meeting.
Many residents witnessed Saturday evening's dazzling sunset.
A few minutes earlier, it looked like this at the bridge plaza.
Here are some Christmas lights on North 6th.
And here are some on the 100 block of Walnut.
Locust Street is adorned with these illuminated snowflakes.
(Unfortunately, the street lamp isn't illuminated.)
This snowflake is hanging out at Columbia River Park.
Down at the bridge, the lights were on in the daytime the other day.
Speaking of the bridge, here's a situation that's wrong on several levels.
Also at the bridge, Santa set up shop this weekend.
It's part of Santa D's Toy Challenge on the Bridge. Go HERE for more information on the program.
These two trucks were there on Sunday afternoon.
There's Santa now, but he's not Santa D. (He's Santa Walter.)
The lights were lit on the night train at the mural.
Just for fun, here's another sunset.
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Earlier in the week, demolition was almost complete at the former Union Community Bank at 921 Lancaster Avenue.
The only thing remaining was the vault, which has since been removed.
A construction trailer was set up at the site recently.
Here's a closer look.
A Majik appliance store, which is planned for the site will look something like the generic building depicted in this artist's rendition contained in the October 26, 2021 meeting packet.
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The Eberly Myers apartment building project at 132 Locust continues to progress.
Here's a short clip of the construction in action.
The building will supposedly look like this when it's finished.
According to the borough website:
"33 apartments are planned in the property, meeting the demand for rental properties in the market. Eberly Myers, LLC is an experienced developer with properties throughout Lancaster. Plans for attractive amenities such as parking and a first-floor commercial space. Monthly rents starting in the $800s for 1-bedrooms."
"Concept 1 includes the drone company and the second plan is a build-out plan without the drone company. It may be possible that the final design may include some of both plans."
